


You take my breath away (quite literally)

by howsharry



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Eggsy is Camden's MP, Eggsy's mother - Freeform, Eggsy's sister - Freeform, Frottage, Harry is Speaker of the House, House of Commons, Hurt/Comfort, I have no idea what I'm doing, M/M, because of Dean, but I clearly am, i'm not taking sides here, it goes very dark from there, politics!au, surprise surprise, who the fuck invented parliamentary monarchy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-09-26 09:26:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9882479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howsharry/pseuds/howsharry
Summary: politicians!AU with Eggsy and Harry being MPs, greatly inspired by genious conversations between the german politicians Norbert Lammert and Gregor Gysi - fantastic chemistry, incredibly funny. I'm a sucker for politics, reallyHarry and Eggsy meet in the House and get closer during the term, mostly through the witful banter they are well-known for - especially because Harry controls the younger man's speaking times. As they move closer to each other, Harry discovers some beautiful and terrfying secrets about the young MP.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> please don't drag me for making mistakes about the british political system, it's all very confusing
> 
> be aware of the 'sex scene' i did not yet have the energy to write, use your imagination or something sry it's 2:30 am here
> 
> UPDATE: 7 months later and 3,5 months into living in Canada (and finally learning some fucking english first hands) I still don't know a great lot about British politics, but I edited a shit-ton of mistakes, weird grammar, unfunny jokes. It has only recently occured to me that a draft can be edited, and the quality of my writing is not subject to my momentary state of being. So yeah, editing rocks. thanks to my fucked-up highschool for never teaching me. sidenote: i haven't written the friggin sex scene yet, i don't work well under pressure.

Harry Hart had been Speaker of the House of Commons for two legislator’s terms now and it was tiring him out. He didn’t resign, though, and he did a fairly good job, so he was re-elected. Daily tasks included maintaining discipline and order in the house, ruling points of order, presenting addresses to the Crown on behalf of the House, taking part in the House’s Commission. It satisfied him to a certain degree - he was one of the most important men in the state, that be said - but he still spent the majority of his time with the parliament and it bored him to death.

He barely remembered his days as an active MP, barely remembered the passion he felt for politics and the issues close to his heart. He had to maintain neutrality now, execute the procedural rules, don’t favour anyone or anything over another. One had to become a bit numb for it to work out. 

So like that he dreaded the 18th of May, the first sitting of parliament after the break, and everything after that. Instead of thinking to much about it he buried himself in work, read the polls, tried to evaluate the future MPs and the new prime minister and tried to blank out the weeks that followed with sitting durations from 6 to 8 hours a day. 

There was change going on this years, more diversity within the established parties, a handful MPs under thirty, a raise in the women’s quota and the count of members coming from a minority background. Perhaps this year he wouldn’t talk to old white men like himself all the time. On the other side there was a definite raise in seats and votes given to the nationalistic, eurosceptic and not-so-secretly racist parties. It worried him, in a very distanced way. The future of this country was no longer in his hands, he had no say in it whatsoever.

The sittings started and went on for several weeks before he could put some names to the new faces and remembered some of the older ones. The topics were the same as they had been 20 years ago. The people were the same; trying to insult the other parties in not so cleverly thought jokes and sometimes blaring outright offensive phrasing until Harry kicked them out. He sometimes liked that part, he would love it even more if it didn’t necessarily followed up to MPs disrespecting his ruling of order for three times. 

It took about five weeks for something interesting to happen. And when it did, it happened right before his eyes.

**26th of June 2012**

Harry read aloud the next speaker for the day. They were coming to the last topic of Urgent Questions and Statements, and there was a young man listed whose name he’d never heard before in the House but he faintly remembered reading some time earlier.

“I call The Right Honourable gentleman Mr. Unwin to speak.”

A blond man raised from the Opposition back benches and Harry tracked his movement to the despatch box in front of him. The boy, he corrected himself, could be no older than twenty-five years, and if that wouldn’t be strange enough he was wearing a skirt. 

The crammed chamber was already whispering, Harry could feel the gaze of the MPs hefting themselves on the young man’s butt, but his observation was interrupted by the boy speaking up suddenly. 

“My name is Gary Unwin, I’ve not been an MP for a long time since I’ve been elected into office only a few weeks ago, but already in that short time it has occurred to me how some of my female comrades were wronged because of their gender and despite their superior political competence.”

Gary pulled a newspaper from under his notes and held it up to show it around to the room and finally to Harry, who nodded simply for acceptance. It was The Sun, with a rather shitty picture of a woman in a pant suit on the cover. 

“And that’s why you wearing a skirt now, eh?”, King muttered somewhere right from Harry. “Dreams of being a girl himself, huh?” 

Harry sent a serious stare in Chester’s direction and then focused his attention back on the young blonde.

“The Right Honourable Member of the Conservative Party is right, I am wearing a skirt to make a point, but not the point of me coming out to the Chamber”, Gary picked the speech up easily again. “No, this is not about me nor is it about why a member of my party decided to make a change in her political career in a matter of dressing. The Sun interviewed The Right Honourable Member of the Conservative Party Chester King on the topic, he stated dress code should become a more pressing issue in the chamber again.”

Gary looked up to meet King’s eyes on the benches ahead of him. Harry thought he looked fierce, or maybe at first glance it was just the lack of a sagging tummy that made him different from the other MPs. No no, there was something about his eyes that Harry recognized as real, life-loving passion.

“It is incomprehensible for me how a male member of parliament dares to comment on the appearance of a female colleague - while said member isn’t setting high standards himself...”

The opposition benches growled and Chester’s face reddened dangerously fast with anger. Harry leaned forward to his microphone.

“That’s a rule of order for you, Mr. Unwin”, he said cooly. “You may proceed in a well-mannered way.”

Eggsy shortly looked his way and nodded, returning to concentrate on his scribbled notes. 

“And for two how this can be an issue a politician would speak about to a newspaper. In my five weeks of being a member of the House I have learned, that the chamber has too many issues of its own nature to be able to deal with the problems of the United Kingdom. This cover-”, Gary held it up again and the Government benches groaned irritatedly, “is symptomatic for every mundane issue this chamber is discussing to no end without any satisfying results. I urge every single one of my colleagues to evaluate the matters at heart right, use time efficiently, so I none of us has to wear a skirt ever again to make a point.”

Gary turned to Harry and broke a weak smile. “The Scots made the jump from skirts to pants a long time ago, so stop making a big deal out of it or any other trivial thing. Thank you for the time, Mr. Speaker.”

A few people clapped, not a lot considering that this had been Gary’s first speech. Harry nodded and watched Gary walk back to his seat before he read the next speaker from his list.

**3rd of October 2012**

After his debut Gary spoke more often and his chosen topics gained Harry’s interest. He liked the boy’s passion for his partie’s issues, for issues that often seemed to touch him personally. Hell, he had a fury in him he could barely contain. It seemed like not a day of Gary speaking went by without at least on rule of order (mostly for profanities, e.g. general cursing) but Harry secretly enjoyed it. He felt like he was contributing a small part to Gary’s speeches, contributing again to make important points, even if it was just making sure he didn’t say anything offensive or x-rated. 

It took the young man a few months to groom his self-confidence, his fluency, his quick-wittedness, but at the beginning of October he had himself figured out quite well for the beginning of a career.

“...that Greece has given us the most important philosophers of the world, philosophers on whose words the pillars of our society are built...”

Harry did the usual when Gary spoke. He kept the time and listened for the peak in the young man’s voice, right before he began cursing.

“Right Honourable Member, you know you don’t have much time left”, he intervened, when the timer was under ten seconds.

Gary stopped and his head dropped slightly, a sigh coming from his smiling lips, before he turned around to address Harry directly for the first time. “I understand”, he said exasperatedly and shoved his notes together. “I will then not proceed to quote them all, most of the MPs present would have been overchallenged anyways. I’ll leave it out but-”

The government benches were booing unintelligible, the sound swelling up as their minds were too slow to react and none of them had listened very closely. 

Gary laughed and turned back around to Harry, making him participate in his little show. “I thank you for your confirmation, MPs of the Conservative Party.” He smirked cheekily, collected his notes and turned around on his heels to find his seat on the bench again. While the room settled down and waited for Harry to read the next speaker, the older man secretly smiled to himself.

**14th November**

It was the last day of November’s sitting period and the chamber had become extraordinary loud and rude. Harry had already ruled points of order to both sides of the benches and shouted Order for a good few times, but the discussion was heated and the MPs were already throwing linguistic brickstones at each other. 

MP Hesketh, a slimy, privileged kid and Kings protege, had the right to speak about NHS spending and did so with the moral (and oral) support of his benches. Harry exchanged a few looks with the Prime Minister sitting right behind him, noting the slight roll of Percival’s eyes. 

“Your time is up, Right Honourable Mr. Hesketh”, Harry interrupted the young man’s speech with his amplified microphone and held his fiery gaze steadily. Hesketh made his final point and crawled back to his seat. “Now I call The Right Honourable Mr. Unwin to speak.”

Gary didn’t leave much time before his first rule of order, cursing on the Conservative Party while gesticulating wildly. 

“...and Mr. Hesketh _you forgot_ ”, he shouted towards the end of his passionate speech, “you fucking forgot about Scotland...”  
“Mr. Unwin”, Harry said into the mic.  
“But they did!”, Gary protested, still rather loudly.  
“Mr. Unwin”, Harry answered calmly, pointing at the watch on his wrist.  
“Please they are straightforwardly provoking me to...”  
“I know they do”, Harry said, a small smile playing on his lips at how artistically upset the young man sounded.  
Gary sighed overdramatically. “I understand you have to watch the time Mr. Speaker.”  
“Well Mr. Unwin if the mutual excitement between you and Mr. Hesketh can only be stopped by me I simply have to do it.”  
“I understand, Mr. Speaker, but you have to admit his enthusiasm for me is constantly growing”, Gary ended and his mates on the benches laughed and clapped. 

 

The House went to recess during Christmas and Harry spend most of the evenings at Merlin’s house, getting pissed the mature way old man tend to do. A Speaker of the House and the party whip of the Opposition didn’t have a lot time to celebrate their friendship - only during Christmas and due to the fact that most of the politicians were on holiday and neither of them had a family of their own. But 20 years of working together in the party before either of them was elected into office was enough time to look back on and talk about.

While sitting in Merlin’s home office and indulging on a glass of Scotch each, their conversation circled politics, of course, and more so - fueled by Harry’s growing interest in the young speaker who happened to be in Merlin’s party - about Gary.

“He does good in faction meetings”, Merlin murmured. “He and Roxanne make a rather good team in the committees, though his talent for speaking is far more distinct. And he knows it”, Merlin added with a chuckle.

“He’s from London, right?”

“Camden”, Merlin, “and not from a very nice place. He’s grown up half-orphan in the estates.”

Harry took a sip of his scotch. “I guessed so, his accent slips when he gets furious.”

“Which happens all the time”, Merlin laughed, “but I like listening to him. Some people can talk for 11 minutes and it seems to me like half an hour. His time though is always too short.”

“Time runs if you actually have to say something instead of talking”, Harry nodded solemnly.

 

**9th January 2013 24th of February 2013**

“We have to think about eleven questions now, and I will ask them for y-”  
“Dear Collegue, I hope you realize you have exactly one minute for that.”  
“I will manage, thank you, Mr. Speaker.”  
“I’m watching as always with sporty ambition.”

 

**3rd of March 2013**

“Do you know how you managed that? Because you cut on pensions, wages and social services!”  
“Mr. Unwin I suspect you have a lot more to say on the topic but your speaking time doesn’t allow it...”  
“I understand, Mr. Speaker, but I to be honest I had so many important things to tell you.”  
“Yes, you can faithfully send it my way, then I will tel-”  
“It’s very unfortunate that you are never going to know, Mr. Speaker.”

 

**26th of June 2013**

“A member of the Opposition wants to make a motion, please speak up”, Harry called at the end of a rather exhausting meeting. It was always tiring when the debate was about recent arms and tank deals and today was no different. To his surprise and also to misery the very outspoken Mr. Unwin raised from his seat and coughed slightly. 

“I like to bring forward the motion of citing a member of the security council, namely Business Secretary Roberts, and answer to our questions since the answers of the Minister of State have been unsatisfactory.”

Harry sighed at the bold words and rubbed the junction of his nose. 

“Mr. Unwin the motion is inadmissible. The Secury Council sits covertly, so Business Secretary Roberts can’t report from the meetings.”

“Of course...”, someone shut down Gary’s mic before he could increase his protest and Harry was glad for that. He just wanted to call the next issue on the agenda when he heard angry steps coming towards him. He looked up to see the young man with his impressively athletic physique striding, stopping in front of his chair and looking him sternly in the eyes.

“That’s bull- not right, we have to be informed about the deal..-”

“You can’t just come here and bargain with me when I revoked your right of speak”, Harry hissed.

“You didn’t!”

”Your microphone was shut down and I didn’t call you to speak again, Mr. Unwin. I gather you haven’t been here for a long time but that’s how it goes.” Harry tried to stay cool and controlled, but the defiantly high held chin of the boy made him furious. And it also made him want to get out of his heavy robe which had become quite hot.

Gary nodded, clenching his jaw tightly and strode back to his seat, from where a young female MP was already waving at him with a book.

“Next motion..”, Harry said and was interrupted by Gary rising again and reading from the small white book. 

“I articulated myself wrongly, my apologies”, he said hurriedly, “I’d like to cite a member of the government to justify himself because the answers of the Minister of State have been insufficient.”

Harry sighed again. “You can’t cite him to speak here, Mr. Unwin. You can _put forward a motion_ to cite him here, but I think the intention is clear...”

The Secretary of Environmental Issues came forward to him and leaned over the barrier to mutter something to Harry.

“Well, I was just told that the Business Secretary in in Brussels at the time, so you’re motion is obsolete for today, Mr. Unwin.”

For a moment he searched for the boys green eyes in the crowd, just to find them absently staring into the opposite benches. That was the way defeat looked like, Harry remembered and proceeded with the agenda.

**23rd of September 2013**

Gary came forwards and fiddled with the telescope stand of the microphone. He looked up and addressed the Secretary of Education with a small smile. “Mr Armstrong, the thing I hate most about you is that I always have to re-adjust the mic after you spoke, which is so rarely the case otherwise.”

Harry smirked. “If that is your pleasure, I will arrange for it to happen every time you come to the desk, Mr Unwin.”

Gary turned to him with a smile and waggled a finger. “But don’t cut it from my speaking time”, he laughed and his eyes glinted with mirth.

 

**4th of November**

It was one and a half years into the term when Gary and Harry met for the first time outside of the chamber. It was at a party Angela Corey, representing whip of Merlin and also his right hand, and both of them had accepted the invitation out of politeness.

Merlin did the job of formally introducing them and left them alone shortly after, which led them to awkwardly stand in the corner of the crammed room and holding onto their drinks.

“It must be quite entertaining to watch us”, Gary finally said and smiled. He was dressed in a velvet jacket and a black pair of slacks, accompanied by a white shirt and a bow tie. Harry felt almost underdressed in his slim, pin-striped suit. 

“You don’t take it easy on me, Gary”, Harry chuckled.

“Eggsy, please.”

“Huh?”

“Eggsy. Everyone calls me that. Except in the Chamber of course.”

Harry nodded. “Alright, Eggsy.” He took a sip of his drink and a deep breath with it. “You impress me, though, even if I’d like you to show a lot more manners. You dress like a gentleman but you don’t talk like one.”

Eggsy looked down on himself. “Roxy chose this for me. So I guess ‘m not good at either.”

Harry noted a slight slurring in a voice, but not due to the alcohol. His words were rough, almost carelessly spoken. 

“I like your accent, though”, Harry said, trying to sound unattached and cool. “Makes you seem down to earth.”

Eggsy looked up at him, surprised and ears already reddening. Harry swallowed hard.

“Yeah, it’s...I try not to show it.”

Harry lazily leaned into the wall and observed the young man’s face. “I think you shouldn’t”, he murmured and took another sip, “I think it suits your bold words just fine.”

 

**11th of January 2014**

“Last month Secretary of Environmental Issues Dalton declared that the exit from nuclear energy would be a revolution. That is highly contradictory to what he said in December 2010, when he commented on the extension of nuclear power plants as a revolution. I think you should clarify within the party the difference between a revolution and a counter revolution. Th-”

“Mr Unwin, certainly you are offering your expertise to the CP in that matter.”

Eggsy turned around to Harry, a fiery glint in his eyes and his lower lip sucked into his mouth. “Obviously, Mr. Speaker, I was just about to offer it to Mr. Dalton, for he has obviously no idea.”

 

**15th of February 2014**

“You are wronging everyone you ever made a promise to, Mr. King and it’s more than fortunate that we don’t live in times any more in which yo-”

“It’s also fortunate that your time is up, Mr. Unwin.”

Eggsy turned around to him, looking a bit fed up but still ready to fight and definitely ready to throw around with some irony. “Mr. Speaker, guess what? I will note down your birthday now and then I will bestow you with a new watch, so I can be sure you are actually reading the time right.There are people who talk 11 minutes and it seems to me like half an hour but every time I speak the time runs. I thank you nonetheless.”

Harry chuckled, a laugh coming from deep down in his chest. “Honestly, Mr. Unwin, if you pursue the keen thought about the watch I ask you to respect the value limits which would force me to seek permission from the Speaker of the House at first.”

 

**27th of March 2014**

“Before I open the sitting I want to take the time to congratulate Angela Corey first. She celebrated a milestone birthday yesterday, in the name of the House I want to wish you the very best”, Harry said and smiled at Angela from his seat while applause roared in the benches. He let it, for a few seconds, before he called for order. “Now further to today’s business. First one to speak is not so surprisingly Mr. Unwin concerning the recess plan of the House for the next year.”

Eggsy jogged towards to the desk and looked right at Harry. “I don’t want to abuse my Right to Speak, Mr. Speaker, but it’s impossible that you’ve become fifty-five last Saturday and it goes unnoted here, my heartfelt congratulations.” He smiled brightly and stepped back again, obviously having made his only point.

Harry laughed with most of his parties members and waited for them to calm down again. “Thank you, Mr. Unwin, and of course it would have been possible but in contradiction to many other things there is no constitutional necessity to note it.” He lifted a brow and Eggsy lifted on back at him. “All the more I am impressed by your short-hand intervention and if we keep up the standard throughout the legislator’s period that would be a perspective.”

Eggsy made a vague hand-movement from his seat and smiled brightly. 

 

The very same day, when Harry had changed and packed his things and was ready to leave Westminster, he was stopped in the hallway with a gentle touch on the arm.

“Good evening, Mr. Speaker”, Eggsy said. He was dressed to impress, Harry could see, dove-grey suit well-fitted to his body.

“Harry, please”, Harry said and blinked owlishly at the young man.

“I was wondering if you’re free to have a drink”, Eggsy said with all the confidence he used in his speeches with a slight hint of nervousness hovering under it. “To celebrate your birthday.”

Harry considered the boy for a moment. He shouldn’t. But the alternative bugged him even more: working at home until late in the night, indulging on to many glasses alone. Passing out eventually in his office chair.

“I am, actually”, Harry smiled and shifted his bag and coat from on arm to the other so Eggsy could walk by his free side. They left the building together and Eggsy hailed a cab while Harry’s eyes were hefted to his tight trousers. Pervert, he thought of himself, but he could not deny the increase in his heart beats when Eggsy managed to hail one and turned around to him, smiling brightly.

Eggsy had the cab driver take them to a small bar seven minutes from the Palace. It looked discreet enough for Harry’s taste and so he followed Eggsy inside and took a seat opposite from him in a small corner booth. 

“Guinness?”, Eggsy asked, studying the menu. Harry’s throat screamed for something harder, but he nodded nonetheless. Eggsy ordered two of them for now and two for later and looked at Harry expectingly when the waitress vanished again.

“What?”, Harry asked and huffed a small laugh. 

“You seem tense.”

Harry inclined his head. “I am a politician”, he said and Eggsy nodded, smiling knowingly.

“Ya, it seems the job wears off on us.”

“How so?”

Eggsy played with a coaster in his hands and blinked a few times. “I’m from a very shitty place, and I didn’t move away from there until I had enough money saved up to take a loan and go to university and take my family with me. So being paid a MPs diet changed my life-style quite a bit.”

“Sounds like you are used to taking over responsibility from a young age”, Harry noted. The waitress arrived with their beers and they touched glasses.

“To your health”, Eggsy smiled.

“To your career”, Harry smiled back, reluctant about how open he should be in this situation. He maybe was too comfortable already, due to Eggsy’s charms.. 

“I am used to it, I guess”, Eggsy took it up again. “My step-dad was an asshole all the time so I had to remove my mum and sister. But I never really left my community, even though I went to uni.”

Harry tried to analyze the look in the young man’s face. Asshole step-father? Harry guessed drugs, alcoholism, abuse. Maybe all of them. “What did you graduate in?”, he asked more carefully.

“English”, Eggsy laughed. 

“Ah, that’s why the talking.”

“What’s with the talking?”, Eggsy asked, irritatedly.

Harry huffed. “Your speeches, they are brilliant.” He watched Eggsy’s face and shook his head. “And you fucking know it, you just needed me to say it.”

“What am I hearing there? Mr. Speaker you cursed in a public place!”, Eggsy laughed and Harry snorted snidely. 

“I’m off the clock.”

Eggsy’s eyes narrowed. “I guess you can curse like a seaman when you’re in the mood.”

Harry just looked at him, fearing every other word would cause the tension between them to become...different. Flirty perhaps, and he should be careful with that.

At the time they started the second beer Eggsy’s ‘faked posh’ accent was non-existent and he talked happily and a bit tipsy in his own rough tongue. “And you know, I’m sitting two benches behind Merlin and his head is so shiny, sometimes I have to look away or it’ll blind me”, he said, sounding shocked and Harry had no other choice than laugh. 

The boy was conversational and intelligent but Harry already knew that. He never noted he dimple in his cheeks though or the cut in his brow that contradicted the fine suit he wore almost artistically. 

At half past one in the morning he told Eggsy he needed to go and Eggsy nodded, looking a bit sad but also like he had a good time and knew how to value it. He was almost sober again, just like Harry had just started to feel a bit more relaxed after his third pint. Eggsy paid, he invited him for celebration after all, and they grabbed their bags and stood out on the street, watching the night sky.

“Harry?”, Eggsy asked and Harry looked down at him in question. One second later he found a pair of lips pressed to his and two pairs of fist balled into his shirt and the fire in his groin, which he had suppressed the whole evening, flamed up again with unforeseen fury. Harry pushed back and cradled the boy in his arms, bringing their bodies further together and dipping his tongue into the boy’s mouth. Eggsy moaned and the vibration went right to Harry’s cock. 

“Fuck”, Eggsy breathed when Harry let go of him for a moment and indulged himself in kissing the boy’s throat. Harry breathed heavily against the young man’s body. 

“My flat is not far from here”, he murmured.

The young man pushes him away to look into his eyes. “Okay”, he says, and smiles.

They hailed a cab and 8 minutes later climbed up the stairs to Harry’s city apartment. The rooms were wide and the was is dark and he didn’t let Eggsy take in any of it in but instead claimed him again and guided him into his bedroom. 

“God, you’re posh”, Eggsy murmured as he let himself fall on the big bed with white sheeting like a starfish while Harry put away his bag and coat. 

He stripped down to his shirt and Eggsy fell silent, his eyes roaming over Harry’s body. Harry found himself looking down at his chest and back up to Eggsy.

“I know I’m not a young man anymore”, he chuckled, trying to sound careless.

“Yeah, well I am and I’m not this fit”, Eggsy said and hooked his fingers into Harry’s belt to pull him closer. Harry looked down at him with a small smile, combing his fingers gently through the younger man’s blonde hair and realizing how terribly fond he was of that face. It almost made him forget his lust of the moment.

“You must know, I hate one-night-stands”, Harry said, pursing his lips.

A frown shortly appeared on Eggsy’s face.

Harry knelled down in front of him and framed his sides with his hands. It was friendly, steady, reassuring. “Let’s take this slow. I’m too fond of you to find things difficult in the morning.”

Eggsy smiled and looked at the floor between them, nodding slowly. “Same”, he admitted. His fingers brushed Harry’s throat and slid down to his chest, moving with the heaving of Harry’s breath. His head fell forwards and he pushed their temples together, breathing Harry’s scent in.

Harry, too, liked the warmth of it, transmitted by their touch. But also felt how much Eggsy was craving it, was desperate for affection. Harry swallowed and retreated from their position.

“I’m going to make the couch ready”, he noted and cleared his throat while raising into stand. Eggsy wiped his hands over his face and nodded. 

“Fanks”, he said, not really looking at the older man. He might be ashamed, but Harry decided that that was none of his business right now. He nodded and got the sheets and a pillow from his storeroom. Eggsy followed him into the living room, seeming tired and a bit boneless after this evening. Harry couldn’t depict it for himself now, the mix of alcohol and lust and attraction in the chamber, now spiced up with some sentiment of his side and new impressions of Eggsy’s true character. Harry decided to play safe. He made Eggsy a bed on the couch and the young man crashed down in an instant.

 

**28th of March 2014**

Eggsy woke up far too early in his opinion an turned on his improvised bed, the leather creaking beneath his sheets. He opened his eyes to find it morning and extremely bright due to the big window front of the living room he was lying in. 

Harry’s living room, he remembered. Living room of the Speaker of the House. Fuck.

He finally sat upright, still disorientated, and rubbed his hands over his face. Someone hummed a melody and he looked up again. 

Harry, fresh as the day, dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, entered the room, humming a sentimental melody. Under his arm he carried an ironing board, which he put down in front of the TV.

“Good morning”, he said softly, smiling at Eggsy.

“Mornin’”, Eggsy answered dumbfounded.

“Did you sleep well?”, Harry asked. 

“Yeah, alright.”

Harry nodded and patted the ironing board absent-mindedly. “May I have your shirt and trousers for a minute?”

Eggsy looked down on himself, crunching his nose at the crinkled, slept-in fabric. He looked back up at Harry who was getting his iron ready and let steam shoot from it like a gun playfully. Eggsy had to smile, charmed by the older man’s helpfulness, and began to strip out of his clothes.

“You just want to see me naked”, Eggsy teased and opened his belt. 

Harry clicked his tongue. “I must admit there’s a certain appeal to it, but really I just want to spare you of any embarrassment in the House.”

Eggsy laughed dryly and gathered his clothes to give them to Harry, who watched him with a glint in his eyes. Standing there just in his underwear Eggsy didn’t know of anything else to say but: “Guess I’m going to make myself useful and make some breakfast.”

Harry, who had begun to slide the iron over Eggsy’s shirt, stopped and smiled wrily. “I’m afraid you won’t find anything to cook with.”

“Okay...then let’s go out for breakfast”, Eggsy proposed.

“That’s more like it”, Harry answered and shot him a smile.

 

They had a big meal at a small bakery not far away from the Palace and first split when they reached the foyer of the building to enroll in their different fields of work for the day. They would see each other again soon, they both knew, and Harry bid the young man goodbye with a kiss on the cheek when he was sure nobody could see them in a particularly dark alcove. 

It was in a way thrilling to have this...he wouldn’t call it relationship yet but certainly infatuation with the young man. The morning had felt easy and comfortable, even more so than their time in the pub the night before. 

He saw Eggsy later again in the chamber but work was work and Eggsy’s party didn’t send him into battle today. When the sitting was over though and the MPs and Ministers dispersed, Eggsy walked by Harry’s seat and slipped a piece of lined paper on his desk. Harry programmed the number into his phone as soon as he left was in his office.

 

**30th of March**

Harry hadn’t called Eggsy yet over the weekend because frankly he had a lot to do and...well, he planned on talking to the young man face to face. He couldn’t quite imagine himself take the phone and ask Eggsy to meet and ...hook up? 

Harry rubbed his hands over his face as he listened to Percival’s speech and stopped his eyes from adverting to Eggsy. He really didn’t want to make any of this awkward but to be honest his last romantic advances lay a few years back.

The list of speakers on his tablet was refreshed and he read Eggsy’s name on it now, just two places behind Percival. Harry’s eyes gazed over the crowds and clung to Eggsy’s profile. The young man was watching the PM until suddenly his eyes met Harry. The older man jumped but Eggsy smiled at him, just shortly enough for nobody else to notice. 

Soon enough it was Eggsy standing at the desk and talking confidently to the assembled government in front of him. His tone wasn’t different from any time before, he still fiercely stood up to his morals and social ethics which he didn’t see presented in the politics of the PM. 

At the end of the speaking time, Harry took the word as normal. 

“You want to tell me my time is over”, Eggsy was faster, looking at Harry more challenging than was probably proper. To the older man it almost seemed like a small degree bitterness, disappointment maybe over not being called after an evening of kisses and a breakfast. 

“Unfortunately the profane rules of our standing orders apply on prophetic speeches, too.”

“I must say Mr. Speaker, that is very sad”, Eggsy said and gathered his notes like he always did in a slightly theatrical manner.

“Absolutely.”

“What a shame. All the things I won’t be able to tell you now - well, at the end I want to say...”

“But it will comfort our colleagues that we will conclude that bilateral”, Harry said, a wry smile on his face. Eggsy stopped in his speech and turned around to him, looking at him in a mixture of calculation and amusement. 

He left the desk eventually and Harry took a deep breath.

 

The sitting was over soon enough and Harry got rid of his robe and strode towards his office in hope for a few minutes of intense calmness. All hopes were destroyed by a hand touching his elbow in the midst of the main corridor.

“Mr. Speaker, do you have a minute?”, Eggsy asked and Harry turned around to him.

“Of course”, he said with a formal tone. “My office maybe?”

“Excellent”, Eggsy answered and followed him close by to the wooden door to his office. They passed his secretary Richard, a white haired man of few words, in the front room. Harry gathered his mail of the day and let Eggsy into his main office after telling Richard they had an important meeting and weren’t to be interrupted for thirty minutes.

Eggsy huffed at the length of the time and Harry could only answer with an apologizing smile before they were alone. 

“I’m sorry I haven’t called you yet”, Harry started as soon as he felt the tension increase between them. That was before even one of them had taken a seat, but as Harry sat down in his chair, Eggsy on the other side of the desk seemed to prefer standing.

“I imagined you had a lot on your mind”, Eggsy acknowledged. “Same with me actually. A text would have been nice, though.”

“I am sorry”, Harry nodded. “I wasn’t quite sure how to behave.”

“Well, now I have you for my own”, the young man shrugged and looked around the office. 

“I do make time for people worth of it”, Harry smiled, feeling the irony in his honesty. He really did, but mostly those people weren’t in his personal interest. Influential, rich, high ranking people. Well, except maybe for Merlin.

“That’s nice”, Eggsy said, still not looking at him but at the ceiling ornament instead. “Do you want to hear the end of my speech?”

“I did say we’d spare our colleagues the mental work by working it out together.”

Eggsy smiled, a very private and short curving of his mouth. His eyes fell down on Harry and the older man felt his breath rasp in his throat. “As I was saying, the strategy of the government to empower all children without taking the different gender roles and...”, Eggsy slowly walked to the edge of the table, “privileges of skin colour, social background, gender identity and sexual orientation, is fundamentally foolish and counterproductive.” He took another step towards Harry and finally stood next to him.

“I would prefer administration and government to change their plans maybe in cooperation with the coalition and also I would very much like the Speaker of the House to come down and kiss me.”

Eggsy swung a leg over Harry’s legs and sat down on the older man’s lap. 

Harry swallowed, his hands instinctively wandering to the young man’s strong thighs. “I’m not sure how the government will react to your statement but you have the Speaker on your side”, he murmured and lifted his head. Eggsy took the invitation and pressed his lips on Harry’s. It was soft, testing, leaving a lot room for improvisation and changing of plans but Harry hated being teased and soon roamed Eggsy’s sides with his hands and his mouth with his tongue. 

“Fuck”, Eggsy moaned when he felt Harry’s stiffening cock press against his groin and began to rub himself on it, making Harry instinctively rock into the movement.

“I missed your mouth”, Harry murmured, recognizing how the lust dazed his view. His hands pulled the hand-ironed shirt from Eggsy’s trousers and touched the hot skin beneath. Eggsy was muscular and soft at the same time, making his chest broad, his waist trim and his bum wonderfully round. Said arse was rolling over Harry’s erection and both men moaned into each other’s mouth. 

“Fuck me”, Eggsy groaned louder, so loud Harry put his hands over his mouth to prevent Richard from hearing anything.

“No time”, he whispered, kissing his way down Eggsy’s throat and nipped at the skin where he remembered the boy being sensitive three nights ago. “But some other day.”

He raised from his chair and took Eggsy with him. It looked more easy than it was but his strength seemed to turn the young man on even further. Harry pressed him against his desk, pens clattering to the floor, and worked on the boys belt. 

Eggsy had his arms thrown around him, nibbling at his earlobe, but soon stopped when Harry stroked his cock and rocked his own erection against him. 

“Been wanting to do this for over a year now”, Eggsy breathed heavily and clever fingers began to find their way into Harry’s trousers, undoing the belt and letting them fall to the floor in a swift motion. 

“Leering at a government official, my my.”

Eggsy laughed and kissed Harry’s jaw while the older man worked both their cocks and breathed heavily into Eggsy’s hair. Eggsy’s cock against his, the hot licks on his chin and the sneaky hands pressing their bodies together by his arse were soon giving him enough to come sputtering all over their front. He collapsed against the boy and Eggsy finished himself, breathing hot and heavy into the hollow of Harry’s throat. 

When he had his circulation back under control, Harry kissed Eggsy’s hairline with his eyes closed. “God, you’re gorgeous.”

Eggsy placed a smacking kiss at his throat for an answer and wrapped his arms around Harry’s torso. It felt so unfamiliar and still good it made Harry realize how long it had been since someone had held him like that. 

They stood for a while in embrace, taking in the other’s warmth and movement until the telephone rang and Harry groaned in protest.

“For fuck’s sake, Richard”, he murmured and left Eggsy to go and grab the telephone. It was the prime minister of course.

“Harry, we’ve got a problem, you see...”, Percival said. 

“I can’t right now”, Harry answered with a look at Eggsy who was beginning to bring order to his attire again. He looked content and it made Harry smile.

“That’s not really a thing you can tell the prime minister. At least not outside of the chamber.”

“I know”, Harry groaned frustratedly, being secretly glad Percy and he did have a personal relationship that allowed minor unprofessionalities on both ends. He put the handset between his cheek and shoulder and pulled his trousers up, ordering himself as well. “What’s so important they make you call?”

“Monarchy”, Percy said curtly and Harry groaned. From the corner of his eye he saw Eggsy move towards the door and hurried to follow him and cut his way. He ripped the telephone station off his desk in the movement and it certainly didn’t look as elegant as he normally strived to be but he ended up between Eggsy and the door and counted that as a win.

“Give me a second, Percy”, he mumbled into the handset and pressed it against his chest after. “I have a change of clothes for you”, he said, sounding stressed and unpersonal and hated himself for it.

Eggsy smiled crookedly but didn’t look overexcited at the idea. “I should go, you have to work. I shouldn’t have come-”

Harry lounged forwards and pressed a kiss to Eggsy’s lips from which he hoped it was just as feverish as he felt at the moment. He let their foreheads touch afterwards, calming himself down.

“I’m very glad you came by. I very much enjoy being with you”, he said. 

Eggsy’s hand sneaked up around the one of Harry that was holding the handset and pressed it lightly. “It’s the PM”, he whispered. 

“He calls everyday. I much rather have an MP in my office”, Harry said and tuned in with Eggsy’s chuckling. “Come on.”

He took Eggsy’s hand and led him to the wardrobe hidden in a wooden parcel behind the desk. Percival babbled in to his ear while Harry chose a shirt which cut would fit Eggsy well enough and handed the hanger to the young man before he chose one for himself. They changed in silence, Harry frowning at the inner-party strategies Percy was just elaborating, and ultimately Eggsy left the come-stained shirt in Harry’s bin and kissed him goodbye while he was still on the phone.

The young man held his own mobile up and waggled his finger warningly but in silence before he smiled one last time and left the office. 

 

**9th of April 2014**

Sittings of the House took two weeks off meaning that Harry hadn’t seen Eggsy for several days and began texting the young man more frequently. Out of politeness, he tried to stop it when he visited Merlin at his house but he didn’t overcome the urge to at least to look at the pictures Eggsy sent him or the small, rather clumsy and ironic haikus.

_sitting in the park_  
In spring sun with my sister  
Strangers are smelly 

Merlin noted the smile on his face and analyzed it immediately right. 

“It’s that young thing, isn’t it?”

Harry looked up at his friends and met his eyes over the brim of Merlin’s drink. 

“Excuse me?”

“People are talking, Harry”, Merlin laughed. “Especially in the party.”

Harry looked owlishly at him. Even if Merlin knew the truth he certainly didn’t look too angry for it to bother him greatly.

“They always do.”

“Yes, but usually because you’re gay or give the opposition more speaking time or are best friends with the opposition’s leader. Not because you sleep with an MP.” Merlin smiled very faintly, as if he didn’t want to show his amusement.

Harry huffed. “Well the public also thought we two were having an affair for some time, so.”

Merlin smiled broader now. “I’m happy for you, I really am.”

Harry gestured disapprovingly. “I know what you are going to say next, Merlin. He’s a bright young man, he has a future, and I am going to break his heart and spoil his career, that’s how the story goes.”

“I didn’t say that it always happens.”

“But you would have implied”, Harry huffed. “Didn’t happen with Percy.”

“He was breaking your heart in a very similar situation”, Merlin reminded him. “We can learn from the mistakes of others. Besides, that was a life-time ago, if you ask me.”

Harry ignored his friend and wrapped himself in his defenses and anger. “So you’re saying he will leave me when he steps upward”, he assumed. “Now you’ve really talked yourself into something.”

“I’m not suggesting anything, I’m not even saying anything. That is just your insecurities speaking”, Merlin laughed and Harry’s phone beeped again, focusing the attention of both men onto it. Harry took a look at the display and of course it was from Eggsy. He groaned. 

“How long is it going on?”, Merlin asked curiously.

“Two weeks.”

“Well, you just earned me 50 quid”, Merlin snorted and pulled out his phone.

“Roxy, I presume”, Harry said and proceeded talking when his friend didn’t answer. “You’re such a hypocrit.”

Merlin looked up from his texting and threw Harry a sly smile, considering his friend for a moment. “I guess we’re both stumbling into something.”

Merlin swallowed audibly and put his phone face-down on the table. “Let’s see how that works out.”

 

**11th of April**

(02:32pm) H: _I will cook tonight, if you are available. H_

(02:37pm) E: _good morning to u too, guv._

(02:40pm) H: _Good ‘morning’, Eggsy. Are you available, though? I would be delighted._

(02:43pm) E: _punctuation in texts always sounds sarcastic haha_

Harry frowned at his phone and put it down for a moment in favour of his cup. Was that a yes? Or a no? He took a look around his shining kitchen, he even defrosted and cleaned the refrigerator and wiped the floor extra carefully, leaving him slightly out of breath and sweaty for Eggsy’s hopefully positive answer.

He looked once again at Eggsy’s last text and asked himself if he simply didn’t understand the slang of the youth any more. He certainly didn’t to a definitive extend, but it should be enough to have simple conversation with Eggsy and ask him out for dinner.

Just when he was about to jump from his chair and have a hot shower to drain his thought, his phone beeped again. He picked it up hastily and looked at the fresh text.

(02:56pm) E: _sorry that was the insecurities speaking. In short: I would very much like to come over tonight._

Harry smiled and sat down again comfortably to write back.

(02:57pm) H: _As I said and meant very truthfully: I shall be delighted. H_

The next moment his phone beeped and Eggsy had sent him a photograph of his briefcase, filled to the top with pens, papers and what seemed to be a roll consisting of one pair of briefs, a t-shirt and a toothbrush in the middle. A text question mark was accompanying the picture.

(03:00pm)H: _Very good idea indeed, or else I would have lent you something. See you at 8 at my place?_

(03:01pm)E: _I shall be d’lighted. X._

Harry took a deep breath and smiled, his hands clutching his phone. He had to laugh at himself for a second, at how attached he had become to their little conversations, at how excited he was for tonight. Old fool, he called himself in his head and stood up to begin with the cleaning of his bedroom, old fool. 

 

Eggsy arrived at sharply 08:01 pm but Harry had been at the edge of his seat for the better part on an hour since dinner simmered on the stove and the whole flat was cleaned up nicely. After he buzzed open the main door he opened his flat door and waited for Eggsy to show up on the stairwell. 

Harry dressed himself nicely, he thought. Dark slacks, a white, pressed shirt going nicely with it. Maybe the fit was a bit too tight, maybe it was weird to wear Oxfords indoors but Harry felt somehow complete and geared up for the evening. 

He held the door open when Eggsy reached landing, slightly out of breath with a healthy colour in his cheek, and smiled more widely than he was used to. The young man met him with a similar smile, slightly more cheeky as he reached out to hand Harry a bouquet of flowers he had hid behind his back.

“Hello”, Eggsy said, standing there somewhat awkwardly as he waited for Harry to accept the flowers.

Harry did, slightly perplexed at the charm the younger man seemed to ooze and the way he looked tonight. Jeans, a white T-shirt and a sports jacket, a bit of gel in his hair and a enticing aftershave. The strap of the briefcase was slung across his chest and Harry had to smile at the thought of the contents of it.

“Thank you”, Harry said as he accepted the flowers and carefully held them away as he leaned foward to press a kiss to Eggsy’s cheek and let the young man do the same to him. “And hello to you, too.”

Harry stepped away to let Eggsy in and took his jacket from him to put it on the coat rack before he led them into the kitchen and the adjoining dining room where the table was already set.

“Can I help you with something?”, Eggsy offered as he put down his bag on a chair at the other end of the table. 

“There’s wine in the fridge”, Harry said as he filled a vase with water and placed the bouquet in it. When he turned around from the sink, Eggsy was already leaning into the fridge (his head almost entirely emerged in it, which carried a certain comicality) and the back of his white t-shirt clung beautifully to his form. Harry smiled, feeling physically drawn to the young man’s body but resisting the urge to just go there and slip a hand around his waist. There would be time for such later on.

Eggsy found the wine with a triumphant sound and shut the fridge, ripped off the plastic and considered the cork. Before Harry could say anything he had pulled a swiss army knife from his back pockets (it was actually attached to his keys) and a second later it was half emerged in the bottle. Harry watched, very humoured and slightly impressed, as the young man stuck the bottle between his knees and pulled the cork out halfway only to extract the knife of and pull the last of with his teeth, ending in a satisfying ‘plop’.

Harry smiled at him in a mix of surprised and humoured manner. 

“Does it have a amnesia dart function, too?”, he asked, still standing in the middle of the kitchen.

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“Could come in handy in the House”, Harry snorted and put the vase on the table. 

 

They ate comfortably, few-worded and the slightest bit of dizzy by the wine. Eggsy praised his cooking and Harry thanked him for it, knowing that it wasn’t that good but the effort counted. Though, looking at Eggsy he thought he was the kind of man that could be excited by ordering pizza and watching a film, and Harry thought it a good quality. 

Eggsy was indeed a very humble character, as Harry learned when they put the dishes away and reclined to the living room with their glasses. Sitting on the leather couch, Harry found it even easier to relax and release the tenseness from his shoulders, and for Eggsy it seemed to work the same way. The young man told him of his family shortly, his sister and mother living with him in a flat in the city. Nice, tidy, comfy flat, enough space for each of them to have their separate lives. 

“The first time we went out together”, Harry said, clearing his throat to speak clearly in spite of the wine, “you told me you didn’t grow up quite as privileged as your sister does now.”

“I’ve been quite talkative that night, haven’t I?”, Eggsy asked, his eyes falling down to the floor and Harry recognized a dark heaviness in his gaze.

“If I remember rightly I invited you to share”, Harry noticed and played with the stem of his wine glass. 

“Another time maybe”, Eggsy smiled, and Harry didn’t miss the short expression of pain on his face as he swallowed and looked up again.

“Yes, of course. Just let me tell you that I find impressive what you did, how you managed to...”, Harry realized halfway through that he lost he way and wanting to express his admiration for the young man ended almost crossing a border again he just accepted for the time being. He pursed his lips and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, you know what I mean.”

To his surprise, Eggsy laughed. “Yeah, sure bruv”, he said and pressed his flushed face into the leather of the couch, a comically but sweet gesture, as nearly everything was the young man did. 

“I’m considering to create a twitter account to push my political career”, Eggsy said and Harry frowned in confusion.

“Twitter, the 140 signs news messaging service.”

“Yeah.”

“How will you convey your political views in 140 signs, may I ask?”

“Oh, sweet summer child”, Eggsy sighed and Harry snorted at him, finding the precocious comment rather endearing. The young man pulled out his phone, a scrappy old thing but still a smart phone, and opened Twitter. “It’s not about politics, it’s about the sass.”

Harry slid next to Eggsy and watched the phone screen over his shoulder. 

“See, Norm Kell for example. Toronto City Councillor, 75 old and totally killing it.”

Harry squinted his eyes to read on the cracked screen. 

_The city it currently looking into how we can extract the salt from my haters &apply it to the roads this winter. Will keep you guys posted_

Harry snorted and looked at Eggsy doubtfully. “You really think this will push your career forward?”

“I think”, Eggsy stressed, “it will gain me publicity.”

Harry was suddenly aware of how close they were. To read on the screen he had to press into Eggsy’s side and put his head close to the young man’s. The heat and closeness made his heart pound violently, Harry felt how he lost control.

“You’re just so very likeable in person”, he said and Eggsy turned to him, smiling shyly. “Positively beaming, very enticing”, Harry commented and leaned forward to nuzzle his nose into the hair above Eggsy’s ear. He felt the young man’s breath hitch, felt his biceps tense and also the smile that was growing against his jaw. 

“I’m feeling like there’s a definite imbalance in compliments tonight”, Eggsy said, voice already a bit raspy. 

“I can’t help myself, you’re beautiful when you are flattered”, Harry laughed and felt a hand sneak up to the side of his face, pulling him down to meet Eggsy’s warm lips. 

He had kissed him before, but it hadn’t been like this. They had either been drunk or in a hurry, too lost in thoughts and Harry just yet realized how special it felt to kiss the boy, how singular and fulfilling. Weirdly, it calmed him down to a level where his heart didn’t hurt from pounding any more and he did not have to be afraid of his hands becoming erratic or shaky. His head was anywhere from cool, but he felt settled.

Eggsy made the cutest noises while kissing, little surprised hiccups and whining sounds, and Harry felt his chest blooming out for the boy. 

Eggsy grabbed his waist and pulled himself closer, pressing their legs and chest together and making Harry growl at the contact. Eggsy’s body seemed to fit perfectly next to his, his hands seemed to be made to wind around the back of the younger man’s muscled thigh or frame the side of his face. Eggsy’s laboured breathing against his mouth and the heaving of his chest against Harry’s, the sound of their shirts rubbing. 

-sex scene-

Harry didn’t know exactly how long it took him to pull himself out of his dreamy haze of fatigue and bliss but when he did and therefore opened his eyes he saw Eggsy sitting his back leaning against the headboard of the bed, smiling at him.

Harry felt the urge to groan and pull Eggsy closer, lie next to him until sleep would pull their consciousness away but instead he watched the boy like the boy watched him. 

“You okay?”, Harry whispered.

Eggsy nodded and smiled again, less dopey than before, more calculated but nevertheless honest.

“I can’t sleep naked. Old habit. Didn’t want to wake you though.”

Harry kept himself from frowning and reached for the boy’s hand to press it against his lips gently. What a peculiar being the young man at his side was. 

“I’ll catch us some pyjamas”, he murmured and raised himself into sitting, not without a groan at his aching back. 

“Where’s your bathroom?” Eggsy was up before he was, cautiously sticking his left arm under his right armpit. 

“Down the hall”, Harry said and internally slapped himself for sounding so business-like. Eggsy was gone, bare feet tapping in the dark of the hall, before he could say another word and Harry went to collect two pairs of pyjamas and two old t-shirts from his dresser. 

He hated moments like this. When the young man in his bed was comfortable enough to have sex with him but not quite enough to remain relaxed afterwards. Harry, inattentive to his lover, had slipped away for a moment in his bliss, used to the feeling of his own bed and the light of his bedroom, without giving too much thought to the young man next to him. How many minutes Eggsy had sat there awkwardly Harry could only guess. 

Eggsy came back shortly after, his face brightened by a quick wash and rather awake. Harry gave him his pair of pyjamas and turned away while he dressed.

“You hungry?”, the young man asked him and Harry turned around, rather surprised.

“Not really. There are still leftovers in the kitchen, don’t hesitate.”

Eggsy nodded while he rolled up the legs of his pants. “I always get the munchies.”

Harry couldn’t help but smile fondly. He leaned against the wardrobe and caught himself watching Eggsy, his muscular form. 

“I’m sure I have a Snickers bar hidden somewhere”, he said, “how do you care about a cup of tea?”

God, this is new, Harry thought as he crammed through his cupboards for some midnight snack while Eggsy leaned over the kitchen counter and stared into his tea. The lack of movement and the comfort of food had made him calmer again.

Harry was just about to reach for an unopened pack of cereal bars when Eggsy spoke.

“I like what you did”, he coughed, and Harry could feel the younger man’s face redden behind his back. Harry sighed and smiled. “Earlier, you know. Was the first time I did this with someone, you know?”

Harry turned around swiftly, rather pleased with himself and finally holding the cereal bars, but something on his face seemed to make Eggsy self-conscious again.

“Not my first time having sex with someone, god forbid”, he said defensively, embarrassed.

Harry stepped forwards and leaned over the counter to place a kiss on Eggsy’s forehead. “I know”, he murmured, and stepped back again. “And thank you.”

Eggsy smiled and snatched the bars from Harry’s outstretched hand with a smirk. 

Half an hour later Harry had changed the sheets on his bed and placed a sleepy Eggsy in it with all the care he had in the world. He found it surprisingly easy, a side of him he had forgotten about the last years and that made him feel slightly better about himself in general. 

They lay apart first, the dark covering them like the heavy sheets. Harry was half asleep when a hand crept out under the duvet and put itself on top of his outstretched biceps. Harry groaned quietly and grabbed into the dark until he found the smaller body and pulled it towards him in a swift movement. Eggsy made a content sound, a sound Harry would like to hear again soon, but first he needed to rest with his nose buried in Eggsy’s hair. 

God, I like you, he thought and let his mind be sucked into darkness. 

 

_15th of April_

Two days had passed since Eggsy had slipped out of his bed with the whisper of “gotta get my sister to the kindergarten” and a gentle kiss to Harry’s temple. It could have been all a dream, as far as Harry was concerned, dreams and reality seemed to blend into one grey lump of memory that he desperately wanted to refresh.

Eggsy texted him frequently, if more or less frequently than before Harry didn’t dare to evaluate. And eventually a message arrived, asking him out for a street market tonight and maybe dinner later on. 

Two weeks of regular dates and sleepovers went by and both of them got used to the feeling of falling asleep next to each other in Harry’s bed.

“My mother thought I moved in with you”, Eggsy laughed one morning when he helped Harry bring breakfast to bed. He hated being spoiled for some reason and Harry found it very sad because there was nearly nothing that would have made his momentary happiness even bigger. The boy was diligent and attentive to everything that had to be done in a normal adult’s life: getting his sister to the kindergarten and the football club in the afternoon, stopping in with his mother to check on her, being punctual to different meetings of working committees and attending benefit events while simultaneously making sure there was always enough food in his home for his mother and sister.

Harry found it odd when the boy showed up at his place quite starved after a long day, needy for touch and sparing in words. He tried to rub the exhaustion out of Eggsy’s shoulders as long as he would let him but anything that went towards more pampering (like carrying him to the bed or offering to wash his back in the tub) was thankfully declined.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do it myself”, he would say, or, “No need to.”

In Harry’s point of view, there was urgent need to, need so pressing his fingers itched with it. 

Eggsy was heart-warmingly complex on the one side - funny, engaging, enticing, beautiful with a proper mouth on him and a great emotional intelligence as Harry found out bit by bit - but there was also something simmering under the surface, which was nevertheless beautiful but at the same worrying Harry.

Beauty is terror, he remembered from a book he’d once read, It is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming.

He didn’t talk about it to Eggsy about it, not yet at least. There was time, there needed to be time in order for the boy to trust him enough with whatever kind of thing burdened his soul. Harry offered his help, his spoiling, his support and his body warmth.

The House continued its sitting time when the first warm rays of golden light met the Thames outside of the Palace and Harry never felt quite so uneasy on his seat as he did now that the weather was better and his new lover sat on the bench to his left.

The House was restless today, a normal behaviour for the MPs that had to get used to civil manners and sitting still for several hours again after they had spend two weeks with displaying their civil manners at galas, banquets and dinner parties where they sat all night and talked about hot air. Most of them at least, Harry thought.

The members of parliament concerned themselves with fishing regulations on the atlantic coast today, nothing where he would have expected to see Eggsy on the list of speakers but he was nevertheless happy to see him up closely and hear him speak.

As said before, the House was restless, ministers running around, grouping around Percival, other MPs grouping around Merlin and Chester, whispering lowly, rudely ignoring the young man who was about to speak. 

Eggsy looked at him shortly and shrugged, with a small smile that Harry thought of as very intimate, and began his speech, the microphone being more powerful in volume than the MPs voices. The standing politicians didn’t seem to settle, though, at the sound of Eggsy’s voice, they just seemed to be even more stressed and louder to get to their point.

“I’m not telling you anything new when I say that the biggest problem with modern fishing industry is not the actual catch but the bycatch, thousands of dead fish unnessecarily caught in the nets-”

Harry harrumphed loudly into his microphone. “May I interrupt you for a second, Mr. Unwin?” He looked over the crowd, not many of them were paying him any attention.

He began to speak louder than he normally did and it actually startled some of the people. “May I ask any colleagues who are not sure yet if they want to witness the speech or from which place they want to follow it, to find a seat? For example you, Mr. Hesketh.” He glared at Charlie who had just jumped from his seat and set off in the direction of the prime minister. Harry waited for silence to set in but it was a long time waiting.

Quickly, Eggsy turned around to him, obviously not thinking of the situation as a grave offence as his cheerful smile showed. “Mr. Speaker, the clock is running the whole time...”

“You do know that I’ve always been very gracious towards you”, Harry huffed, “You can assume that will happen again at the end of your speaking time.”

Eggsy turned around again. “Alright, we agreed on one minute more”, he said, as if they just made a very pleasant deal and Harry had to keep himself from shaking his head fondly. Just this one time he would get away with it, he told himself. “May I carry on?”

Harry looked around the room, most of the attendees were now seated, playing on their mobile devices but at least they had shut up. 

“Of course.”

Eggsy looked as if he was going to straight commence with his talk but in the last second he turned around to Harry again and smiled brightly, if not a bit mischievously.

“It reassures me that they listen to you just as much as to me sometimes”, he said, clicking his tongue, and earned a bit of laughter from his home ranks.

 

_23rd of April_

“It’s Daisy’s birthday next week, you want to come?”

Harry looked up from his lunch and into Eggsy’s green eyes, full of expectation and without any judgement.

“I-I don’t know if that’s a good idea”, Harry murmured, quite shocked by the mental image of him sitting awkwardly at a pre-school kids birthday table, all suit and coiffed hair. He stared down at his paste and picked idly at it, hoping to look natural.

“It’ no big deal, really”, Eggsy said, so soothingly Harry instantly knew he had reacted exactly as the young man had predicted him to. “She’s gonna have some girls from the club over at our house, we’re gonna have a barbecue, some cake, some football.”

“I don’t know either your mother or your sister”, Harry argued. 

“What’s the deal? I’ve brought plenty of birds home with me, my mum always loved them.”

Harry threw Eggsy an extremely doubtful look and wiped his mouth with white napkin, his appetite gone with the wind.

“She is not going to like me”, Harry said firmly.

“You don’t know her!”

Harry snorted. “But I know me.”

A frown build up between Eggsy’s eyes which where hushing over Harry’s face in a quite irritated way. “What’s the matter?”, he asked quietly.

“I’m fucking fifty-five years old”, Harry almost-yelled because it really was the most obvious thing in the world, wasn’t it. 

“Don’t scream at me”, Eggsy said calmly but taken aback. 

There was silence between them, only the cluttering of the other guest around them commencing to disturb the quiet. Eventually, Harry swallowed and squared up his shoulders.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think-”

“Cut the bullshit, Harry”, Eggsy huffed and ran a hand over his face. He looked exhausted and Harry felt somewhat sorry for making a scene. “I mean, do you know what it takes for me to ask you into my house? To meet my family?”

Finally, the boy looked up and his frown was still there, doubting now of Harry personally. “My mum lost her husband, drowned it for years in alcohol and lived with an abusive second husband. My sister grew up in a shabby flat with mold on the ceiling. And I-”, he swallowed, aborted the sentence. “I’m fucking proud of what I’ve done for my family, but we’re far away from perfect and it takes a fucking lot to ask you to meet them. But I want to show you because I care about you. I want you to meet them because I think you care for me, too.”

Harry looked straight into Eggsy’s disobedient, angry face and felt ashamed of his own vanity. Also, he felt stripped naked. He wasn’t used to the boy telling him so openly about his feelings - especially not about his past - and the low frequency of those outburst made it even more obvious how serious he should take Eggsy right now. 

Harry pursed his lips and reached into his pocket for some money.

“Let’s go”, he said, letting some bank notes falls on the table next to his half-eaten pasta.

“What?”

“I said let’s go”, Harry repeated, more gently this time, and reached for Eggsy’s hand as he stood up. The young man grabbed for his coat and briefcase, irritated.

“Why?”

“I want to hug you”, Harry said shortly, “without a million people staring at us.”

They walked out into the street and then a good minute until Harry could pull Eggsy into a backyard entryway full of garbage tons and cartons for some intimacy. Eggsy still looked troubled, worry gnawing at his lips, when Harry cradled him into his arms and breathed deeply at the smell of the boy. 

“I’m sorry”, he murmured. The boys arms wound itself around his middle and pressed hard for a moment, hard enough Harry couldn’t breath. 

“Does you sister like Frozen?”

Eggsy stayed still awkwardly but then Harry felt a faint chuckle against his chest. 

“You’re so weird, Harry Hart.”

“Sure I am.”

“Why are we cuddling in the middle of garbage?”, Eggsy asked.

“Because I am trash...?”

Quiet again for a moment, only the rustling of their clothes and the streets and cars and people all around them on the main street.

“Then I’ll be trash, too, I guess.”

 

_28th of April_

If Harry ever thought he didn’t see much of Eggsy in the time of their relationship (which was young and fresh, to be honest) he hadn’t experienced something like that before. Three days on dead end. Eggsy wasn’t in the House - written ‘ill’, so unofficially had better things to do - and was too stressed to write him more than one or two short text in the morning and one in the evening. Harry didn’t even knew what kept the young man up on his feet so much besides the preparation for his sister’s birthday and something that ‘had come up’. 

It was okay though, because there was an end of the silence on the horizon: today, Daisy’s birthday. He didn’t make it to the official start at 4 o’clock this afternoon being the Speaker of the House and all, but he knew that Eggsy knew that well enough. The thought of the young man - and the judging eyes of his sister and mother - made his heart jump high when he walked up the steps to Eggsy’s front door and rang.

Children’s laughter was the first thing he heard, then the voice of an adult woman calling Eggsy’s name and a bark. Eggsy had a dog?, Harry thought even more confused than before.

The door was opened in a swift movement and a middle-aged blonde woman who could only be Eggsy’s mother looked at him expectantly. 

“Hello, Mrs. Unwin.”

“Hello-”, the end of the phrase got stuck in her throat somehow and Harry’s pulse hammered wild. Was it the way he was dressed? Dove grey suit without a tie, maybe he should have worn a tie. Or the size of the gift in his hand? Or the kind of flowers in his other hand?

He didn’t have time to worry further as a small grey dog slipped through Eggsy’s mum’s legs and ran towards him, slobbering and gibbering with joy and excitement.

The woman turned around to the inside of the house. “What the fuck, Eggsy-”, she yelled, irritated.

“Mum, don’t swear ‘round the little ones”, Harry heard Eggsy yell back from another room, possibly the backyard garden. 

She turned back around to him and shook her head. “Oh shit, oh shit. I know you from the telly.”

Before Harry had the chance to say anything the raised her brows and took a deep breath. “Well, I mean, Eggsy’s on the telly, too, but he’s not like...like...okay, anyways, come in. Oh Fuck, I should have asked you earlier, oh fuck.”

“No worries”, Harry smiled, hoping it seemed consolatory and not sarcastic. He slipped inside and the small dog - a pug as he recognized - followed him on his feet.

“He likes you”, Mrs. Unwin laughed. “But he likes anyone, really.”

Harry held out the flowers for her and waited for her to take them with a pleased smile before he offered her his hand. 

“Harry Hart. I’m sure Eggsy has...well, he told me he told you about me.”

“He has”, she smiled, shaking his hand. Michelle Unwin was a genuinely happy person, Harry felt, as Eggsy could be at times, too. But in her movements there was a weariness, a recent exhaustion that she managed to act away almost entirely. “Says you’re all proper and the like.” She winked at him and pressed her flower-full hand to his biceps. “Good to have you here.”

“Thank you for having me.”

“Now let’s see where the brats are”, she smirked and let go of him to leave for the kitchen. “Eggsy’s in the garden”, she called back before she vanished. 

Harry grabbed the gift again and made his way through the small house Eggsy rented for his family. It was cozy, the hallway was small and long and dark, but the bordering rooms had high windows and nice furniture as far as he could see. It was only a living room and a dining room (and the kitchen of course on the opposite end of the house) on the ground floor and he soon reached the glass door out to the garden. 

Seven girls in lilac tricots sprung to his eyes at the first instant, running around the small green with a football and a few other toys in their hands. They were cheering happily. Harry had no idea which of them was Eggsy’s sister. 

He turned to where rap music was blaring from a speaker in the right corner of the garden. In front of the barbecue stood his boyfriend, firing the grill while somewhat dance-swaying to the beat. Harry smile and sneaked behind him with a few long stride, pressing a kiss to Eggsy’s ear.

“Hello, dearest”, he murmured while Eggsy jolted and then giggled by his ticklish ears. He turned around to Harry and smiled brightly.

“Well, who do we have here.”

“Mr. Overdressed”, Harry murmured and leaned down again for a kiss, needing the contact to ground him in this foreign surroundings. Eggsy stroked a hand across his chest admiringly before he let go of the older man and called for his sister among the playing girls. Harry noticed the dark rings under his eyes with dislike. 

A dark haired kid with green eyes looked up from the playing and after being waved to come closer by Eggsy, sprung up and ran towards them until she crashed into Eggsy’s legs and hugged them fiercely.

“Are you having a good time, sweety?”, Eggsy asked, laughing. 

“Yeah”, she said, grinning up at him in that big lunatic grin children used so often. Harry was equally charmed and terrified by it. 

“I want to show you somebody”, Eggsy said and bend down to plug her away from his legs. “This is Harry.”

Daisy looked up at him with a frown that was only disarmed by her brother’s optimistic smile. Harry knew his call and knelt down to her eye level and politely held out his hand. She grabbed it and shook it with all the power she had.

“Hello Daisy. I hear it is your birthday today?”

She nodded.

Harry nodded, too, remembering that mirroring body language had a calming influence on the opposing partner. 

“Well, I’ve got a present for you.” He pulled out the wrapped gift and held it out. She smiled, he breathed freely. 

“Thank youuuu.”

“I hope you’ll like it”, Harry chuckled. 

“You’re Eggsy’s new boyfriend, right?”, Daisy asked while she searched for a spot to rip the paper open somewhere on the gift. “Shouldn’t you be married by now?”

Harry looked up to Eggsy, surprised and not being helped by the young man who slung both hands over his mouth to keep himself from laughing out loud.

“I guess so”, Harry said, turning back to Daisy. She had ripped the paper away and found pink knee socks Eggsy had advised him to get.

“Aces”, Daisy breathed, reminding Harry a lot of her brother, and pulled them clumsily over her legs. “Fanks”, she said again, hugged Harry with all her weight and ran back to her girlfriends on the green.

“She likes you”, Eggsy said after they’d remained in silence for a bit, only the grill cracking in the background.

Harry raised into standing and pressed another kiss to Eggsy’s temple. 

 

The afternoon went by with games of football Harry had to participate in or else the teams would have uneven numbers, vegetarian burgers from the grill (Harry learned that the young man was in fact a vegetarian and - after asking him why he had eaten the curry then at their first date night - got the sweetest confession out of him that he had been to nervous and insecure to refuse anything Harry made that night). At 7 o’clock, two thirds of the children had been collected by their parents, at 8 they began to bring order to the house again and do the dishes, at 9 Eggsy opened a bottle of champagne to Daisy’s health and the three adults sat outside for a bit while the sun set over the garden fence while Daisy was playing with the pug on the grass.

“I didn’t know you owned a dog”, Harry said, taking a gulp from his flute and looking at Eggsy expectingly.

“He’s not a dog”, Eggsy and Michelle huffed at the same time, utterly charming to Harry as a whole.

“He’s more of a cat, needs lots of cuddles, makes noises, sleeps a lot, doesn’t take oders”, Eggsy elaborated, closing the gap between him and Harry on the picnic bench and leaning his head against the older man’s shoulder. 

“Look at you two”, Michelle smiled. “You remind me of someone.”

Eggsy groaned at the sappy tone but in Harry it evoked something he hadn’t expected. This was official now, wasn’t it? He’d gotten to know Eggsy’s family, been to his home, had his first minor fight with him in a public place. He concentrated at the increasingly heavy weight on his shoulder and smiled, happy all at once despite of the anxious day. 

He didn’t know how long he sat there, nipping at his cheap champagne and staring at the sunset, but then suddenly the sun was gone and Michelle went to collect Daisy and JB from the grass to put them to sleep.

“Eggsy?”, Harry asked, halfway expecting that his boy was asleep, too.

“Yeah, I’m here”, Eggsy answered. 

“Are you alright?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? I made you come here”, Eggsy chuckled and pulled away to smile into Harry’s face. Harry smiled back, reaching to take Eggsy’s hand in his own.

“You seemed stressed the last days”, Harry noted.

“Yeah, I’m kinda exhausted.” 

“Do you want to go to bed?”

Eggsy almost nodded but then frowned. “Wait...Can I..Can I talk to you about something?”

Harry pressed Eggsy hands gently. “Yes, sure.”

“I kinda need to get this off my chest or else I wont fall asleep tonight, I’m sorry.”

“You mustn’t be. You can tell me.”

Eggsy smiled wearily. “How do I begin...”, he sighed. He hesitated, clearly troubled how to explain whatever had been going on recently. Harry pressed his hand once again and smiled gently.

“You know Daisy and I don’t have the same father, right?”

“I guessed so.”

“My dad died when I was little, her father - Dean - lived with us until...uh...about two years ago. He’s in jail now for a part of the crimes he committed and I thought we were relatively safe from him, at least I haven’t heard a word from him for over a year.”

Harry watched Eggsy’s face as the young man told him, how he chewed on his lower lips and had his eyes trained sternly at the tabletop. His voice was clear, free of emotion, like he was proof-reading a play. Maybe he was reciting this monologue, Harry guessed, he wouldn’t blame him for putting some distance into the words.

“That peace lasted until three days ago, when Dean sent one of his guys to our house to deliver a message. He wanted us to show up with Daisy in jail, today, said we would not get happy if we didn’t follow his wishes”, Eggsy huffed. He smiled wrily. “I told the guy to fuck off and he almost did, turned around to go and all, and then he muttered something under his breath about my mum being a whore and me being a drug-addict and I lost it.”

“What did you do?”, Harry asked, a bit short for breath.

“I jumped on his back and...I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after that. Hurt him or just scare him so he would leave us alone. It took me a second to decide and in that moment he pulled out knuckleduster and punched me in the rips.”

Harry’s eyes slid down to take a good look at Eggsy’s side. He was hiding it so very well, but Harry knew this stiffness from his martial arts training some decades ago, and the older man scolded himself for not seeing it earlier.

“Did you call the police?”

Eggsy laughed, dry and humourless and as if Harry was the most naive guy he knew. Maybe Harry was in that context of streets and gangsters and drugs, but Harry didn’t care. 

“Yeah, sure: Hey Officer, my ex-step-dad sent a guy from jail to deliver a message and he punched me blue in self-defence’.”

“Fuck, Eggsy”, Harry groaned and took a deep breath. He was unsure what to do: stay rational and help figure out how he could help the boy or pull him into a hug and...maybe let him cry? Eggsy didn’t seem too emotional, though, and he also wasn’t finished yet.

“Yeah, that was my first thought, too”, Eggsy sighed. He leaned forwards on the table to bury his head in his hands and rub over his tired face with his palms. “I mean, If they figured out where we live, they figure out the address of Daisy’s kindergarten, too, and where Mum works and her shift times. It’s so fucked up”, he groaned in despair, “they can pull them off the street with no effort at all. That’s why I’ve been staying home with Daisy all week.”

“They won’t do that.”

“I have seen them pull that off numerous times, Harry”, Eggsy muttered, his face still hidden away. “Dean wants to hurt me and mum and he has nothing to loose.”

Harry gnawed at his lips, rather lost for words. “Didn’t they offer you witness protection?”

Eggsy shook his head. “I don’t trust the cops.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes while Harry’s mind was running up and down against the walls of his skull. This was downright dangerous, he thought, although he didn’t have an exact image of those men’s skills, he trusted that Eggsy wasn’t worried over a few street gangsters and pickpockets and he knew that if you worked against powerful people you needed powerful allies.

He coughed and slung an arm around his boyfriend, hoisting him up into standing. “It doesn’t do to worry about this tonight”, he murmured and guided Eggsy’s chin towards him. “We’ll figure out something tomorrow, alright?”

“You’ll help me?”, Eggsy asked quietly. 

“Do you trust me?”

“I do.”

“Then yes, I’ll help you with all my heart.” Harry swallowed and pressed a quick kiss to Eggsy’s lips before ushering him inside the house. The boy walked slowly, exhausted enough to show some of the pain his ribs must still cause him and Harry’s heart hurt at the look of it. 

He embraced Eggsy from behind in the dark hallway and pressed a kiss to his temple.

“Let me care for you tonight, okay?”

“I’m fine, Harry.”

“You’re fucking not. Let me comfort you.”

“You already do.”

“Then wait until I start giving my best”, Harry murmured and made Eggsy chuckle and relax against his chest.

“Okay”, he murmured back, finally giving in.

 

Eggsy led him to his bedroom. Harry forgot for a moment that this hadn’t always been the home of the Unwin’s and expected a teenager’s room for a second, a stuffed chamber of books and old memories but the bedroom was nothing the like. It was more alike to Harry’s: clean, tidy, all things hidden away in wardrobes and drawers. There were a few framed pictures on the wall: a man in a marine’s uniform that looked a lot like the boy, of Eggsy at his graduation day in highschool and Uni, a picture of Daisy. The bed was double, white sheets hanging over the edge, hastily made then. Dark wardrobe, green lamp on the night stand.

Harry concentrated back on Eggsy, who was pulling his shirt over his head now unenthusiastically and grunted when it got stuck by his ears. Harry went to help him, gently, and kissed him, even softer and kinder. 

“You impress me”, Harry said lowly, “I can’t imagine what it’s like to be like you at your age.”

Eggsy seemed embarrassed and turned his head away which just gave Harry a better angle on his throat. He kissed it up and down, felt Eggsy’s breath hitch and his pulse throb beneath his lips.

“You’re so brave, and beautiful”, Harry murmured.

“Stop it”, Eggsy answered, swallowing thickly. 

”I can’t”, Harry denied, “you are just too gorgeous.”

“For real”, the boy said in an attempt to sound earnest and uncomfortable, but the way Harry nipped at his jaw playfully made him laugh lowly. “Stop it with the compliments.”

Harry smiled against Eggsy’s skin and pulled him closer to himself. His fingers slid down to the rim of Eggsy’s under shirt and toyed with it for a while before he asked: “Which side?”

“Left”, Eggsy groaned, leaning forward to kiss Harry’s jaw but the older man dodged him. 

“Ts ts ts, I said I will care for you”, Harry scolded and smiled. “And by that I mean I will pamper you to death.”

“That’s grim”, Eggsy huffed and sucked in air when Harry’s fingertips slid up over his abdomen. 

“In a metaphorical sense”, Harry corrected and stopped at Eggsy’s ribs. He lifted the shirt so he could see, the fat blue but already fading mark. He sighed silently.

Eggsy took a deep breath and looked away. “I’m sorry, it’s not nice to look at.”

“Shut it”, Harry murmured and kiss the boy again, harder this time, gripped by a fierce wish to protect his boy and keep him unharmed. Eggsy kissed him back, melting into him more and more until he clung to Harry’s arms and the older man had no problem guiding them towards the bed and making it comfortable for Eggs to lie on his back. He stripped of his rather restrictive suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves before he leaned down to hover of Eggsy and kiss him down from his throat to his ribs, placing a gently touch of lips on the dark mark. Eggsy hissed, both in pain and thrill.

“You feel so good”, Harry said and felt Eggsy’s legs twitch underneath him. “So soft and warm and pliant.”

“Harry”, Eggsy breathed raggedly, his fingers combing through the older man’s hair. 

“You’re such a beautiful being”, Harry murmured against Eggsy’s skin and went down further to his navel. “So brave and beautiful and humble. I don’t think you could become even more lovely.

“Please”, Eggsy murmured as Harry’s finger’s slipped under the waistband of Eggsy’s jeans. “Don’t talk like this.”

Harry looked up to the boy, cheeks flushed red in embarrassment and breath ragged while the hard curve of his cock pressed against Harry’s chin.

“Or what?”

Their eyes met, both looking fiercely, defiantly at each other.

Eggsy’s voice was soft though. “Or I might believe what you say.”

Harry smiled, his hands opened Eggsy’s jeans. “You better do”, he answered cockily before he pulled jeans and briefs down in one movement and closed his lips around Eggsy’s shaft. 

The boy’s body jumped up, pressing his cock into Harry’s mouth who happily sucked him in and slid his clever tongue over the underside. 

Eggsy was dead afterwards, sprawled out like a angel on his mattress. Harry chuckled at the sight and pulled off what rest of clothing still lingered around Eggsy’s feet, slid them into into the right direction on the bed and pulled out some drawers until he found a pair of pyjamas for the boy.

Eggsy groaned when his arse was lifted to fit into the clothing but Harry shushed him and pulled the cover over his almost lifeless form. He slipped out of his suit. His erection had softened by now and he happily - if not with a bit of fire in his veins - slid under the covers right beside the boy.

He pulled Eggsy into his arms, hovering over him like a mother over her ill child, his hands softly touching Eggsy’s face and throat. His sweaty hair touched Eggsy’s forehead, the younger man’s eyelids flattered. 

“Are you okay?”

Eggsy smiled crookedly. “I’m not sure, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, dear boy”, Harry smiled, pressing a kiss to Eggsy’s forehead. “We’ll continue working this out tomorrow.” He breathed evenly with Eggsy, lulling him into a trance that was deeply connected to the symmetry of the young man’s face. He eventually woke from it and smiled.

“You’re beautiful. I need more words for expressing myself.”

“Stop now, Harry”, Eggsy winced and shifted in his lover’s embrace.

“You don’t like it at all, do you? Being complimented.”

“I hate it.”

“Why?”, Harry asked, brows furrowed. “I can think of nothing better to say to you.”

“’m not used to it, I guess.”

“That’s not answering why.”

Eggsy shifted again uncomfortably and stared at Harry’s chest. Harry didn’t quite understand him. The young man seemed sexually experienced, at least for a twenty-five year old, and quite assured of his sexual orientation. But here they were, Eggsy trying to shut him about it.

To his surprise, Eggsy spoke again, quietly, still embarrassed. “It makes me feel weird. Too hot, flushed, sweating...it’s uncomfortable..”

Harry exhaled slowly and put his head down on the pillows to be on eyelevel with Eggsy. He started carding a hand through the blond strands and folded his other hand over the boy’s.

“To me it seemed that...rather it turns you on, in a way you can’t recognize yet.”

Eggsy’s intelligent eyes darted his, considering, piercing him, before they looked away once more. 

“You sayin’ I have a praise kink?”, he asked, sounding positively shell-shocked. 

Harry chuckled, warmth spreading in his chest and he gathered the young man who made no protest closer in his arms. 

“Fuck me”, Eggsy groaned, muffled by Harry’s embrace. 

“Sleep, my darling boy”, Harry whispered and drew light circles on the young man’s back.

“Night, babe.”

 

_29th April_

“Eggsy, if you can’t leave them home alone for a few hours you should call the police”, Harry tried again but Eggsy shook his head and crossed his arms defiantly. 

“Sorry, Haz. I’ll ask Merlin to write me in ill.”

Harry considered the young man. He looked proud, standing in the front door of his own home which he know had transformed into a fort to protect his family. This morning, Harry had found a knife in the bathroom closet and Eggsy’s paranoia shone in a different light since then. He couldn’t know what else the young man had hidden in his house. All the sudden, Harry felt inferior to Eggsy’s experience in the rougher parts of society.

“Call me, all right?”, Harry gave in and took on of Eggsy’s hands to bring them to his mouth and kiss his middle finger. “If anything happens. If you feel unwell, if you need anything. I will send help.”

He waited for Eggsy to nod, hesitatingly, and nodded himself in assurance. 

Harry turned on the steps and went to the cab. “Call me”, he called before he climbed into the car.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> here's a little bit more  
> Thanks to everyone for putting up with me, I'm trash

_3rd May_

Harry was sitting with Merlin for lunch, a rare occasion since they were equally busy and their schedules almost never fit. That Merlin specifically asked for going out today meant it was either of high importance of he was bored out of his mind. Merlin looked rather stressed, so Harry put his money on the first.

“Gary’s been ill for six days now”, Merlin noted and Harry internally rolled his eyes.

“How subtle, dear friend”, he grunted and let his fork fall back into his salad. Merlin’s eyes swept up to his face, piercing him.

“You know anything?”

Harry ran both hands across his face. He’d had sparse contact with Eggsy the last few days. The boy seemed distracted, of course preoccupied with his fear of his step-fathers henchmen, and Harry had been busy on the weekend between Daisy’s birthday and now so...sparse contact indeed.

“What did he tell you?”, Harry asked, his mouth turning sour.

“Family problems. Asked me to write him ill.”

“Then he’s been very honest with you.”

“He’s never lied to me before”, Merlin smiled proudly but his mouth twitched grimly. “Is he okay, though?

“100 per cent not”, Harry sighed. 

“Is it the step-father?”, Merlin asked and Harry frowned instantly. 

He cleared his throat. “You know of his step-father?”

“Through Roxy. She’s rather indiscrete when post-coital”, Merlin said dryly. “I mean, I know some of the story. His background is dubious, but that’s nothing new to any of us.”

“I hate when you speak so distanced. This isn’t politics, this is my boyfriend”, Harry huffed.

“Have you been helpful in the matter? I need him back at the table”, Merlin proceeded, ignoring his friend.

“It’s serious, Merlin, fucking serious. I would go so far as to engage with MI5. This step-father of his...”, he hesitated to tell, but he knew Merlin well enough and knew that the men also cared about Eggsy, so he told him what he knew so far. It took him a while to make some things that didn’t make much sense in his head understandable to Merlin (Why had Michelle stayed with the man if he was so disgusting by nature? Where it the drugs? Did it have influence on how Eggsy acted towards him sometimes? How did Eggsy suffer under his step-father? How...), but in the end they both sat there in grave silence and brooded over the problem. 

“Then why don’t you?”, Merlin asked, suddenly.

“Pardon me?”

“Why don’t you go to MI5? Sounds like the man has a lot more on his list than some petty crimes that got him 3 years in jail. Sounds like he has a network, a brooding potential of crime constructed around his persona.”

Harry shook his head. “My contact died in the field 9 months ago. You remember Galahad?”

“Yes, shit”, Merlin said, starting to brood over the problem again. After a few minutes, his face lit up. “Oh Harry, you’re so stupid.”

“What?”, Harry huffed, beginning to be annoyed by his inability to make something up.

“You fucked the prime minister.”

“May I remind you that we reside in a public place at the moment”, Harry hissed harshly.

Merlin laughed. “You twat, you fucked the fucking prime minister of England, why don’t you ask him for help? He meets with fucking MI5 every tuesday for dinner.” Merlin’s voice had gone into ironic hysteria and Harry was at loss for words.

“We don’t have that kind of personal relationship.”

“Neither does Eggsy”, Merlin argued, chewing on his potatoes. “Besides, you never paid Percy back for breaking your heart and since you’re finally over him - as proven by evidence A.) MP Eggsy Unwin - it’s your time to shine.”

“I really do hate you for choosing the words you do”, Harry said, nodding in defeat, “but you’re right.”

 

_4th May_

That’s how politics work, Harry thought when he ended the call to Alexander Seawoll’s office. If you have a problem you call the highest ranking college room mate or ex-lover you’ve got, make an appointment, speak about it in private and ask for a favour leading into disappeared taxes, covered-up mistakes in the army budget or - in Harry’s case - the exact case processing of one Dean Anthony Baker by national intelligence service. 

Afterwards you go home to your boyfriend and his family, watch a film and fall asleep on his couch with his hands under your shirt.

 

_8th May_

“Sorry we couldn’t meet earlier”, Percival told him when he dashed in, not a drop of sweat on his brow. It was a lie. Historically, it was him who seeked contact when he needed something from Harry (preferably sex) or later the Speaker of the House (preferably favours), so the constellation was new and uncomfortable to them both.

“It’s fine”, Harry answered, even though the opposite was the case. With every day more Eggsy had to spent in that house - jumpy from paranoia and phone calls from unknown numbers, shadows sneaking around the streets at night - his mental state got worse. Yesterday, Harry had found a gun in the top drawer of Eggsy’s commode, but he wasn’t sure if it was a fake or not. He had asked himself if Eggsy had ever shot a gun, if he had ever shot at anybody, if he’d ever needed to... The boy never told him, Harry hadn’t asked. Maybe after this was over.

“So”, the PM sighed and sat down in his chair, “what do you need?”

Harry leaned forward and carefully slid Dean’s file over the table. Percival picked it up, sceptically.

“Did you get that legally?”, he asked lowly.

“No. Of course not.” Harry swallowed. That had been the last favour he could ever call in from the police chief of London.

“Whose is it?”

“A very disgusting man.” Harry inhaled sharply. “I have hints he is the head of a drug smuggling ring. At the side he is responsible for some minor crimes - car thieving, robberies, gang fights. He’s been in prison some time now, about 2 years, but his network is still existing and doing the job. I want MI5 to have a look at him.”

“Okay”, Percy raised his brows sceptically. “Why don’t you give them the tip yourself?”

“Because coming from me they will have a look at it, throw it away and proceed hunting extremists as they do everyday. Coming from the prime minister...”

“Yes, yes, yes”, Percy dismissed him and clicked his tongue. “I have one question, though.” 

“Fire away.”

“Does this matter to you personally?”

“Yes, it does.”

“You never come to me with personal matters.”

Harry huffed. “Percy, I don’t want to dig up old bones but...you never cared for me personally, so why would I come for you with personal favours? Career-wise we complemented each other perfectly, but emotionally? No.”

Percival nodded. “Well, I guess you’re right. I’m just saying I am surprised”, he said with the disinterest and hardness Harry best knew from high-level politicians. Percival was made for the job.

“Just this once, because we had a personal history.”

Harry swallowed. This is where Merlin would have flipped the table, probably. Percival’s arrogance had always added to the hurt of Harry’s heartbreak back when they were ‘together’, the pain had made Harry pliant, subversive. 

Harry took a deep breath. “You owe me one because you treated me like a piece of shit”, he sneered, adjusting his cuff links with ease and elegance. “We have an ugly history, Percy, none I want to be reminded of in the future, so this is the last favour I will ever ask from you. But I expect you’ll execute my wishes precisely and effectively.”

Harry knew that Percival was aware how easily he could call a friend at The Guardian and tell him every detail about their love affair. Sex sells, especially gay sex between the heterosexually married Prime Minister and the openly gay Speaker of the House. Stupid, easy-to-please Britain would cry of laughter for years. It was the obvious truth and it better remained unspoken.

“The last favour”, Percival nodded only to have the last word and dismissed Harry, the file still clutched to his hands.

 

_10th of May_

“It’s good to have you here”, Michelle said lowly as the two of them stood side by side while cutting vegetables for dinner. “Eggsy is much calmer when you’re around.”

“I’m happy to hear that”, Harry answered humbly. He looked outside the window, where Eggsy was playing football with his sister, rather tense and obviously uncomfortable since they were in the garden and not inside. Michelle had persuaded him, since the weather had become so nice and sunny.

Since Michelle was being so intimately friendly with him, Harry took a chance. She knew what Eggsy had told him about the situation, which was not much but enough to sense the danger of it.

“You should call the police, you know.”

Michelle looked up to him. “No, we shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”, he asked, frowning deeply. “He’s evidently criminal. He went to jail for it, with new information from Eggsy they can send his henchman to jail, too.” He felt shallow speeking to her like that when at the same time he had unleashed a MI5 investigation of the case.

She swallowed thickly and let her knife with which she had shopped a cucumber fall on the tabletop. “You don’t understand”, she muttered, combing a hand through her hair. “But how could you.”

Harry tried not to take offence on that. 

“See”, Michelle tried to explain, throwing a uncertain look out the window where Eggsy and Daisy were playing. “It’s not that easy, alright?”

“I understand that”, Harry assured.

“No, you don’t”, she smiled. “I mean, you’re lovely, Harry, but how could you imagine what my kids been through, huh?”

“Nobody ever tells me, Michelle. I don’t even have the chance to.”

She drove a hand through her hair once more before he exhaled audibly and took a deep breath. “Well, it’s not fair, I guess”, she smiled wryly, “but nothing is. You see, we can’t go to the police, because that will lead us to court. Which means they will revive our case from two years ago. We nearly lost that one, because Dean fucked us over with me being in...rehab and Eggsy...”

Harry had noticed how she had not touched the champagne at Daisy’s birthday and how Eggsy had rinsed the bottle in the sink. It clicked. But Eggsy? Eggsy kept far away from all that stuff.

“What about him?”

“He was involved. In everything Dean did. Drug selling, drug taking, robberies, he was one of his guys, he had to or else Dean would have beaten me and Daisy to death. And eventually Eggsy, too. Dean fucked us over, his lawyer filed a suit to take the custody for Daisy away from us. It worked out somehow, because Eggsy got elected and MP and so on.”

“Why shouldn’t it work out a second time, if he sues again?”

Michelle looked at him with her dark rimmed eyes, thick lashes and looked the kind of miserable Harry expected her to be when they first met two weeks ago. 

“I had a relapse. 10 months ago I fell into a glass of gin at a summer barbecue and needed to go to the psychiatric hospital for some weeks. It’s documented, any lawyer can fuck us over for this, he doesn’t even have to be good. And if Eggsy sues for custody they will drag his reputation through the mud, his career will end before it begun. There is no way out of this, Harry. We’ll have to wait and see. Dean looses interest eventually, he always does.”

She sniffled and returned to her work, slicing the cucumber in neat pieces. Her hand trembled, though. Harry’s chest hurt. 

“Will you stay the night?”, Michelle asked, returning to the jolly, good-willed woman she generally was. 

“Yes, thank you.”

Harry looked out the window and focused his breathing at Eggsy. Shit, he thought, shit.

 

_13th of May_

“Mr. Hart?”, a voice called from behind Harry and he turned around to search for the speaker amidst the pulp of people crossing the halls of Westminster Palace.

A man in a dark, slim suit came forward and stretched out his arm, so Harry shook his hand and waited for him to explain himself. 

“My name is Lancelot.”

“Are you sure?”, Harry asked, humoured. 

“Yes”, the man dead-panned. “Secret Service.”

“Ah, I’ve been waiting for you”, Harry answered, “we should go to my office.”

“Lead the way.”

 

Lancelot, Harry highly doubted this was his real name, was a insignificant-looking man. He was slim, dark-haired, sight-impaired. 

“How’s MI5 doing?”, Harry small-talked while he stashed away some papers not meant for the public eye.

The man blinked at him rapidly. “I’m sorry?”

“You’re not from the Security Service.”

A wry smile formed on the man’s thin lips. “No. Secret Service.” He pulled a business card from his inner breast pocket and slid it over to Harry.

“Kingsman”, Harry read. “I thought they were a myth.”

“Were and are”, Lancelot nodded, “still independent and going strong.”

“I’m not supposed to know this, am I correct?”, Harry guessed, suddenly feeling a chill run down his spine.

“No, but since the PM contacted us and told me you were his intermediary it is an necessary evil.”

“So you are interest in Dean Baker”, Harry said and leaned back in his chair. The man oozed slyness, danger and cleverly hidden aggression. There had been a whisper about his contact at MI5 to be an original Kingsman, although of course the organization was a myth and the whole thing more a joke than a rumour, but now Harry could see the similarities between the two.

Lancelot smacked his lips. “More or less. We’re after the bigger fish, the man who supplies Baker’s ring with drugs and another from whom he purchases weaponry of any kind. Baker is just a step on the way, not the big boss.”

“So you are going to bring his machinery to a halt.”

Lancelot smiled again, giving Harry chills all over again. “We’re going to eliminate him.”

Harry swallowed. “Sounds good enough to me.”

“I need information, though. We need names, places, code words. I prepared a questionnaire for Mr. Unwin.” Lancelot pull a briefcase Harry hadn’t noticed before onto his lap and a stack of paper out of it.

“He’s ill”, Harry said. They couldn’t possibly know they were...

Lancelot smacked his lips again. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to deliver them to him, Mr. Hart. He doesn’t open his post at the moment, does he?”

Harry pulled the stack of papers towards him while he worked on remaining calm. There was a reason why Secret Service and Security Service where generally unpopular, a last resort in enforcing political agendas so to say. For one, there were the ones who were simply effective, at the other side there were those who knew far too much to be trusted.

“I’ll deliver it”, Harry assured, his voice gone cold and brisk. 

“Splendid.” Lancelot raised from his seat. “I’ll contact you in two days.”

“How long?”, Harry managed to ask before Lancelot was by the door. “How long until you get him?”

“Two or three weeks, depending on how good of an assistance you are.”

With that Lancelot smiled again and vanished through the door.

 

_14 th of May_

“You don’t need to be here every night”, Eggsy said quietly. They were sitting in front of the house, view towards the small garden, Harry with a cigarette and a draft bill he had to present the next day at the House and Eggsy with a glass of wine and some Cashew Nuts. Secretly hidden under the draft was the stash of paper Lancelot gave Harry, and the older man waited for the right moment. He’d waited the whole afternoon, to be honest, not knowing how to bring this across without sounding like the traitor he was.

Harry pulled off his glasses and looked at the younger man. “I don’t need to or you don’t need me?”

“I mean you sure want to be home once in a while.”

“I was home just Monday.”

“That was three days ago”, Eggsy laughed. 

“I don’t miss it, if you mean that. I’m quite content.”

Eggsy smiled sadly and Harry knew exactly what it meant. In another world, he would be, too. A world without Dean. 

“Thanks for being with me.”

Harry watched his boyfriend, all rolled up in his jumper and leaned down to kiss him softly. The moment they parted he knew he had to break it to him, he couldn’t lie and exploit Eggsy’s fondness for him any further.

“Eggsy”, Harry began, closing his eyes and gathering the younger man’s attention which had slipped to his glass of wine. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”, Eggsy said oh so innocently.

Harry pursed his lips and pulled out the Kingsman papers, the questionnaire about Dean. “I’m so sorry”, he murmured again and gave it to Eggsy. “I couldn’t watch you live like this.”

Eggsy’s eyes crossed the lines on the paper, irritated, dawning, narrowing. “You didn’t.”

“I did. I said I’d take care of you.” No more sorry, Harry hoped he was right in his choices. He feared that Eggsy wouldn’t see it just yet, but eventually we would. Maybe he would.

“You went to the fucking coppers?”, Eggsy yelled out of the sudden, sitting up straight in his chair and staring at the paper, staring at Harry, back at the paper.

“It’s a Secret Intelligence Organization. They work precise, effective and incognito.”

Eggsy threw the papers at the floor, raging with anger and also, as Harry saw deep in the young man’s eyes, with fear.

“Who do you think you are?”, Eggsy breathed. 

“You can’t expect me to sit here and...”, Harry answered, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. “...watch you like this. You will go seriously mad if we don’t stop this right now.”

“What the fuck do you know?”, Eggsy spit out and jumped off his chair. Harry followed him up, trying to hold onto his sleeve but the boy ripped it from him.

“I know you wear a fucking gun under your shirt”, he answered as calmly as he could. “You are wearing a gun in a house with a small child and you have no idea how to end this. I have, and I want you to cooperate.”

Eggsy looked at him a way Harry never thought the young man was able to, cold and disgusted. And still afraid, which was what kept Harry from looking away.

The boy turned on his heels and ran into the house. “Mum!”, he shouted and Harry followed him quickly. “Mum pack your things, we have to leave.”

Harry was almost on Eggsy’s heels when Michelle appeared at the tip of the stairs, looking groggy and irritated. “What’s happened?”, she asked with a dead calm.

“Get your stuff”, Eggsy said while climbing up the stairs two at once, still followed by Harry.

“Is it Poodle? Is he here?”, Michelle asked as the two men stormed past her.

“Eggsy”, Harry called, “calm down.” He grabbed Eggsy again and the boy stopped dead in the door to his room before he turned around and shoved Harry away from him with both hands against his chest.

“Don’t touch me”, he hissed, before he turned to his mother again. “No, don’t worry. We just have to leave for a bit.” He stormed into his room and knelled down in front of his bed to pull a backpack from underneath.

“Eggsy, quit acting like this and tell me what the fuck happened”, Michelle yelled, fear making her voice tremble.

Harry looked over her shoulder, one hand rubbing at his chest, the other one balled to a fist. “I activated Secret Intelligence”, he admitted quietly. “They are hunting Dean and his network dow-.”

A slam interrupted him, looking back into the room he saw it had been Eggsy’s hand against the hardwood wall. “Shit they will do”, Eggsy shouted, his back still turned to them. 

“I’m sorry”, Harry apologetically muttered towards Michelle before he pushed past her into the bedroom to kneel down next to Eggsy but before he had a chance Eggsy jumped up again and dodged him skillfully on his way to the wardrobe.

Helplessly, Harry looked over to Michelle, still standing in the doorway. She shook her head slowly and Harry knew how to interpret it: don’t touch him now. So Harry stepped back and tried talking.

“Eggsy”, he said while the boy proceeded stuffing clothes into his back. “You have to trust me on this.”

“If fucking don’t”, Eggsy and but didn’t stop until Michelle silently slipped into the room and sat down on his bed. He turned to her, irritated. “What are you doing? Get your things, mum.”

“Where would we be going?”, she asked calmly. Harry watched her controlled gaze and the way her hands trembled in her lap.

“A hotel, the county, I’ll find something once we are in a cab.”

“Oh my brave, brave boy”, she said and Harry couldn’t help but agree. Even in his helplessness Eggsy had something unbelievably fierce on him, a look that told the story of someone who was willing to die for his loved ones, the look of someone from ancient greek songs. “I don’t want to run any more”, she said and Eggsy swallowed hard.

“I know, Mum”, he said with a choked up voice that got quieter and quieter until is was just barely a whisper. “But what choice do we have?”

Michelle smiled, her façade finally breaking and tears gathering in her eyes. “We’re not in Camden any more, Eggsy, we have other ways now. You were the one who fought so hard to get them, remember?”

After a few seconds of silence Eggsy’s backpack fell to the floor and he fell to his knees, breaking down in muffled tears, soon further silenced in the arms of his mother.

Tiny feet tapped over the hardwood down the hall and Harry turned to see Daisy and JB look out from her room hesitatingly.

“What’s going on?”, she asked, “Why are you shouting?”

Harry threw look back at mother and son before he stepped into the hallway, his heart heavy as a stone, and ushered Daisy back into her bedroom. “Everything’s fine”, he murmured and closed the door behind him. The cries were barely audible now, but he knew they still existed and he wished he could make it any better.

Daisy climbed back into her bed and lay wide-eyed in the light of her bedside lamp with no intention of going back to sleep again. “You’re lying”, she said. JB jumped on her bed and grunted as he rolled himself into a ball of fur as if he agreed.

Harry sighed and sat down next to the bed on the chair Eggsy mostly occupied at night when he read her stories or woke from his sleep with a feeling of paranoia and went to see of everything was alright.

“Eggsy is...afraid”, Harry sighed. And I am too, he completed in his head, if this will work out, if he will want me still after everything.

“Why?”

“Bad things happen sometimes, we don’t always know how to react.”

“Oh.”

“He will be fine”, Harry assured. “He’s just tired and needs some sleep and a warm cup of tea”, he smiled and fiddled with putting the cover over her properly. What a blatant lie to comfort a child. But she finally believed him.

“I hate the shouting”, she frowned. 

“Me too.”

They fell into silence until Harry put a stop to his racing mind and picked up a book from the floor.

“Shall I read to you so you can go back to sleep?”

“Yes.”

 

_16th of May_

The house was quiet when Harry woke the next morning, his back aching like hell from a night in the chair where he must have fallen asleep sometime, too, the book was still opened in his lap. He moved silently around the hallways and let JB outside, only to discover that the questionnaires had been removed from the terrace. He went back into the house and found them lying in a stack on the shoe cupboard, filled out by Eggsy’s scrawly hand-writing and placed as a hint he should better leave. He went to work, went home and tossed around in his bed before he wrote a text message to Eggsy. 

(11:20pm) H: _Thank you. I will keep you updated._

He received no answer.

 

_17th of May_

Lancelot came by when Harry was crossing the hallway again on his way to his office and followed him silently. Harry passed the questionnaire to the man he assumed to be an agent.

“If matters get serious we will need to relocate the Unwins for a few days”, Lancelot mentioned as he threw a look over the filled out spaces.

“If that happens, tell me as soon as you can”, Harry demanded. 

Lancelot smiled. “I’ll contact you.”

 

_19th of May_

His doorbell rang and Harry jumped from his chair. He looked at the clock on his wall and frowned. It was far too late for any delivery service and he never had visitors, Eggsy being the only exception for a while. 

It was Merlin, in his hand he held a bottle of scotch. “You haven’t answered my calls.”

“Must be Richard’s fault”, Harry smiled tiredly, opening the door for his friend. They both knew it was a lie, that’s why Merlin was here, wasn’t he?

“Eggsy is still not back in the House”, Merlin commented. “He’s bee absent for 61% of the votes.”

“You sound like The Guardian”, Harry huffed as they settled down in the living room with two glasses.

Merlin looked at him seriously. “I called him this afternoon at his home number. He sounded like he hadn’t slept in three days.”

“Probably hasn’t”, Harry swallowed. 

“But I thought you arranged for MI5?”

“Which is precisely why.”

Merlin gnawed on his lips and took a deep breath. He looked as uneasy as Harry felt.

“I did the right thing, though”, Harry murmured and downed his glass. “I expect to hear from Kingsman any minute.”

“What do you mean by ‘Kingsman’?”

“Percival didn’t redirect me to MI5, he forwarded the case to the NGO Intelligence Service named ‘Kingsman’.”

“You’re fucking kidding me”, Merlin snorted. “King Arthur’s Knights of the round table chasing around some street gangster?”

“I’m fucking not”, Harry replied dryly. “They have been a myth to me, too.”

Merlin sighed. “I guess Percival stayed rather impressed by your sexual performances.”

Harry threw his empty glass at him.


End file.
